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McCarthy was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Martha Therese (née Preston) and Roy Winfield McCarthy.[4] McCarthy's father was descended from a wealthy Irish American family based in Minnesota. His mother was born in Washington state to a Protestant father and a nonobservant Jewish mother; she converted to Catholicism before her marriage.[5] He was the brother of author Mary McCarthy, and a distant cousin of U.S. senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. His parents both died in the 1918 flu pandemic, and the four children went to live with relatives in Minneapolis. After five years of near-Dickensian mistreatment, described in Mary McCarthy's memoirs, the children were separated: Mary moved in with their maternal grandparents, and Kevin and his younger brothers were cared for by relatives in Minneapolis.[2] McCarthy graduated in 1932 from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin,[6] then attended the University of Minnesota, where he appeared in his first play Henry IV, Part 1, and discovered a love of acting.

McCarthy made two appearances in The Rifleman, portraying Mark Twain in "The Shattered Idol" (episode 120), original Air Date: 12/4/1961, and Winslow Quince in "Suspicion" (episode 157), original Air Date: 1/14/1963. [1][2]

In 1968, he guest starred on Hawaii Five-O in the episode "Full Fathom Five" as the chief antagonist, Victor Reese. The Wild Wild West (CBS) Season 4 (1968–69) His turn as Maj. Gen Kroll in The Night of the Doomsday Formula made one of the best villains of the series.[citation needed] In 1971, he guest starred in the "Conqueror's Gold" episode of Bearcats!, which starred Rod Taylor with whom McCarthy had appeared in the films A Gathering of Eagles, Hotel and The Hell With Heroes.

In 1978, McCarthy played a cameo role in a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as a man running through the streets shouting a warning in the same fashion as his character did in the original 1956 film.

McCarthy appeared as Judge Crandall in The Midnight Hour, a 1985 comedy/horror television movie.

McCarthy was one of three actors (with Dick Miller and Robert Picardo) often cast by director Joe Dante. McCarthy's most notable role in Dante's films was in 1987 as the prime antagonist, Victor Scrimshaw, in Innerspace.

In 1989, he played television station owner R. J. Fletcher in Weird Al Yankovic's film UHF. Yankovic noted that "Kevin McCarthy was terrific. We had set him up to be this really rotten bad guy; but every time the director said, 'CUT!,' McCarthy would burst out laughing."

McCarthy was married to Augusta Dabney, with whom he had three children, from 1941 until their divorce in 1961. In 1979, he married Kate Crane, who survived him. The couple had two children.[2]

From 1942, McCarthy and his wife Augusta Dabney had a close friendship with actor Montgomery Clift. McCarthy and Clift were cast in a play together, Ramon Naya's Mexican Mural. The two became the best of friends and were believed to be lovers according to Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote[9] and George Whitmore.[10] They socialized together and acted together in several projects. The two collaborated on a screenplay for a film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams/Donald Windham play You Touched Me!, but the project never came to fruition.

McCarthy died of pneumonia on September 11, 2010, at the age of ninety-six.